Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol.27, No.10, 781-786, 2006
Chitinase-catalyzed synthesis of a chitin-xylan hybrid polymer: A novel water-soluble beta(1 -> 4) polysaccharide having an N-acetylglucosamine-xylose repeating unit
A chitin-xylan hybrid polysaccharide having beta(1 --> 4)-linked alternating structure of N-acetyl-D-glusoamine and D-xylose was synthesized via chitinase-catalyzed polymerization. An oxazoline derivative Of D-xylosyl-beta(1 --> 4)-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (1) was effectively polymerized by the catalysis of chitinase from Bacillus sp., giving rise to a water-soluble chitin-xylan hybrid polysaccharide (2) in good yields. Molecular weights ((M) over bar (n)) of 2 reached 1500, which corresponds to 8-10 saccharide units.
Keywords:chitinase;chitin-xylan hybrid polysaccharide;enzymatic polymerization;transition state analogue substrate monomer